Hard to miss the greatest event in history ... or at least since the release if the iPhone. I'm speaking, of course, about Apple's release of the iPad.
Give Apple credit. They released the product on an otherwise slow news weekend. Their media blitz (so many pre-release reviews!) was well constructed. They generated so much buzz!
Let's cut through the nonsense and get to the underlying basics. Apple's primarily a Locust business. They live off their brand and, as we saw this weekend, they desperately need innovations to keep customers coming to them.
Give Apple credit. They released the product on an otherwise slow news weekend. Their media blitz (so many pre-release reviews!) was well constructed. They generated so much buzz!
Let's cut through the nonsense and get to the underlying basics. Apple's primarily a Locust business. They live off their brand and, as we saw this weekend, they desperately need innovations to keep customers coming to them.
Will the iPad be a hit? Nobody knows. Not Apple, not a single one of the self-styled experts, not a single customer.
Apple's world is today as it's always been: strategically, they throw spaghetti at the wall (in the form of expensive innovations) in the hope the item "sticks" i.e., becomes a hit.Apple's track record isn't a bad one -- they are, after all, still around after over 30 years in business. And they've had a few hits, including the iPhone (their first real Chicken business).
But, at this writing, the iPad looks less like a Chicken and more like a Locust business. With no line of recurring revenues, the pressure to release a next generation iPad will very soon emerge. And, once that 2nd generation item is released, a 3rd generation item will need to be developed.
A merry-go-round ... life as a Locust.
How about the cult mentality of Apple customers? Many Apple goer's seem to have a strong loyalty to Apple and seem intent to support any cause of theirs. How does this not constitute a chicken model?
P.S. The Ipad's success seems more from this "cult" following rather than the actual product itself (over sized Iphone) which further supports the chicken argument (I think).
Posted by: Mr. Smith | 04/13/2010 at 04:18 PM
Good question, FJ.
The loyalty becomes a Chicken only when it translates into steady, predictable revenue streams.
Apple doesn't know when/if a customer will return. It doesn't know how much the customer will spend when he/she does return.
The loyalty is evidence of how much a repeating customer is valued over a once-only client.
Think of it this way: a marketer's ideal customer isn't automatically a Chicken.
Posted by: Harold | 04/13/2010 at 05:25 PM
Yes give Apple credit
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